I was shocked and upset when a friend from the Race Across America media crew sent me a link this morning to a Slovenian news site that said ultracyclist (and this year's RAAM champion) Jure Robic, was killed today.
I was on this year's RAAM media team, chasing far behind Jure and his crew. I had also just spoken with Jure's friend and crew chief, Matjaz Planinsek on Tuesday.
I didn't know Jure, but the one thing I will remember from our few encounters was his smile. He had a big, bright, child-like mischievous smile that popped up frequently--even a thousand miles into RAAM.
Here's the Outside post.
Photo of Jure at the beginning of RAAM 2010 courtesy of Jake North Photography.
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A good friend emailed me about it this morning my immediate reaction was a pleading "Noooooo!". I watched the roll-out for RAAM in 2009 and witnessed the penalty that ended up fueling his protest / DNF at the last time check.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great guy and amazing champion. Such a HUGE loss to ultracycling. No one else has even come close to Pete Penseyres' record, nor I suspect will approach it for some time.
RIP Jure.
Thank you for your post.Our country is in a deep shock.Speechless.lt came from nowhere,like a hard blow to the head.Jure was an inspiration for the triumph of a will,in sports and in life.Watching his conditioning and filmed reports from RAAM it was unbelievable to see how this humble and always-smiling man was pushing limits of human body and mind to the level of the unimaginable.His never ending cycling with unbelievable lack of sleep have left me open mouthed always.These are the moments of deep piercing sadness now.RIP,Great man.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your memories! He was an inspiration to people worldwide.
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